Display inserts, such as those used in tires on display at a tire retailer, are used as advertising displays that can generally fit within the center of a tire to provide consumers information regarding that tire. Tire display inserts provide a more desirable aesthetic look to a tire on display by covering the center of a tire.
Tire display inserts are rather common. Generally, there are several types of displays. The most common display is a display formed from a foam core or heavy gauge styrene material. Advertising can be printed either directly onto the foam core or styrene material. Alternatively, advertising can be printed on a press sheet. The press sheet is then affixed onto the foam core or styrene material. This type of display further includes two plastic straps affixed to the back side of the foam core or styrene material. The straps attach the display to the tire and support the display within the center of the tire.
One disadvantage to this type of display is that it is costly to manufacture due to the costs of the individual components. For example, the plastic straps attached to the back side of the display are affixed with costly adhesive mounting pads that are most commonly affixed by hand, thereby increasing the manufacturing costs. Additionally, the foamcore or heavy gauge styrene materials are relatively expensive.
Another disadvantage to this type of display is that it can only correctly fit into one specific tire size. In other words, even though this type of tire display insert can fit correctly in one tire size, it will not correctly fit in a different sized tire center. Thus, a tire insert display must be manufactured for each and every different size of tire thereby further increasing production costs.
A further disadvantage for this type of display is that while it is initially simple to setup in the tire, the way in which the display attaches to the tire often leads to failure during use. Specifically, the plastic straps affixed to the back side of the display do not provide enough tension to hold the display in place on the tire over time. Also, the display will not easily stay in proper placement in the center of the tire because of the inadequate tension created between the straps and the body material. In addition, the plastic straps may also break off due to a failure in the adhesive pads holding the straps and back side of the display together. Finally, the components may not re-attach properly if a user attempts to reattach the straps to the display.
Another type of commercially available tire display is a single piece square-shaped display formed from a single layer of styrene or twenty-four point solid bleached sulfate (SBS) material. This display is a very simple design as the corners of the square sheet of material are bent and inserted into the opening of the center of the tire so that the bent corners hold the display into place. This type of display is not aesthetically pleasing since the square shape of the display does not cover portions of the opening on the display. Also, the square display can only fit a particular sized tire but is not suitable for tires having different sizes.
It would therefore be desirable to have a tire display having reduced manufacturing costs. It would also be advantageous to have a display that can fit correctly into the center of various tires of different sizes. It would further be advantageous to have a display that is simple to set-up while exhibiting durability by correctly staying in a proper placement in the center of the tire over a relatively long period of time.